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A review by amallard
Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig
medium-paced
3.5
I wish this man well but I cannot believe he gets paid just to say shit. It reminds me of that tweet "How was philosopher ever a job" except Socrates got the balcony and the wine and the toga and the badass name. Ancient philosophers served. They were men of the looks and men of the books. Haig has only written, published, and profited off a book that feels like a collection of Tumblr posts, or Reddit threads that did rounds on r/simpleliving, or extended Twitter chains.
(I want his job. This review is coming from a place of jealousy.)
I agreed with everything he said. But the thing is, none of it was new to me. I already had this knowledge within me. And I could have picked any of it up for free from the aforementioned social medias.
What I did respect was his unselfconscious portrayal of an anxious mind in disaster mode. I saw the catastrophiser in me. Boy was I there with him when he talked about the worry, all the time, the worst-case scenarios and the irrational fears. When someone's late to a meetup, they have died. When I drove down that street, I did run a red light and am about to be fined and end up destitute. Because of all my failures in the past, I have condemned my future. I have been having anxiety attacks like a second heartrate for the past four months as I (ir)rationalise that I am bound for a lifetime of hardship because I will never get another job because I will lose my current offer because I am not going to finish this degree.
Anyway, this book aggravated me a lot and I hope his wife isn't doing too much of the emotional labour in their relationship. Felt bad for the woman. I might read a book written by her.
(I want his job. This review is coming from a place of jealousy.)
I agreed with everything he said. But the thing is, none of it was new to me. I already had this knowledge within me. And I could have picked any of it up for free from the aforementioned social medias.
What I did respect was his unselfconscious portrayal of an anxious mind in disaster mode. I saw the catastrophiser in me. Boy was I there with him when he talked about the worry, all the time, the worst-case scenarios and the irrational fears. When someone's late to a meetup, they have died. When I drove down that street, I did run a red light and am about to be fined and end up destitute. Because of all my failures in the past, I have condemned my future. I have been having anxiety attacks like a second heartrate for the past four months as I (ir)rationalise that I am bound for a lifetime of hardship because I will never get another job because I will lose my current offer because I am not going to finish this degree.
Anyway, this book aggravated me a lot and I hope his wife isn't doing too much of the emotional labour in their relationship. Felt bad for the woman. I might read a book written by her.